Town Square

Traffic Engineer

Original post made
by Me, Pleasanton Meadows,
on Sep 27, 2013

Has Pleasanton considered hiring a traffic engineer? The light sequencing on virtually every cross town road creates great uncertainty in travel times. For example from Foothill road to Santa Rita can take between 4 minutes and 20 minutes depending on cross traffic light signals. Very frustrating!!!

Posted by A Neighbor
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 27, 2013 at 7:48 pm

We have one. His name is Mike Tassano. I have spoken to him a number of times over the years and found him to be very concerned, informed and attentive. He followed through with every contact that we had regarding traffic in the Vineyard corridor. I recommend you contact him directly rather than posting on PW.

Posted by Kurt Kummer
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Sep 27, 2013 at 10:08 pm

I agree with @A Neighbor 100%. Call Mike Tassano. He'll be informative, helpful and professional. And in addition he'll be genuinely glad to hear from you about traffic problems in Pleasanton. You can find his contact info on the city's website.

Posted by Elaine
a resident of Highland Oaks
on Sep 28, 2013 at 5:39 pm

Send him over to Parkside Dr. Yesterday at about 5:15 I left the Sports Park. The traffic backed up to turn left onto Hopyard was backed up to the main entrance into the park. Cars could not come out of the Sports Park and turn left onto Parkside Dr because traffic was so backed up at the signal. One left turn lane onto Hopyard is ridiculous. A lane going across into Valley Trails is almost useless.
The signal and its timing is in need of some real help.
And yes I have called and they tell me it is fine.

Posted by common sense
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Sep 28, 2013 at 8:16 pm

Traffic is a problem at certain times to be sure. The Parkside problems only occur at a few times of the day. Some dont know u can turn left at the street before the park, and get into the park also. Being a longtime Pleasanton resident, I commend whomever set the traffic lights on Santa Rita Rd. When construction is not an issue I have driven from downtown Pleasanton to 580 several times with no stops at all. Hopyard is a different story, rarely can one drive the length of Hopyard without several stops. One final observation, dont change the light configuration at Hopyard and West Las Positas on weekends, it only leads to confusion and probably doesnt help a thing

Nelson Fiahlo, city manager, replaced Jeff Knowles, the previous traffic engineer with over 20 years experience, with a person whose prior job was working at Albertson's grocery store.

Before coming to Pleasanton, the current traffic engineer's previous place of employment was not other city or county governments, but as a grocery store manager at Albertsons grocery store. He had no previous experience in other city's. His LinkedIn profile here Web Link indicates his only previous job was at Albertsons. He coaches soccer in Tracy.

Nelson Fiahlo, the city manager, fired the previous traffic engineer Jeff Knowles a few years ago and this was covered in depth by this newspaper. Knowles had over 20 years previous experience in Santa Barbara County, Berkeley, Thousand Oaks, etc. Here is Jeff Knowles LinkedIn Web Link

Posted by Driver
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 16, 2013 at 10:53 pm

Yes, Santa Rita traffic is moved quite efficiently right to 580.
Crosstown Stoneridge though, can be quite frustrating...sometimes. Often it's a pedestrian that really screw it up...really upsetting when there are no other cars in any direction.

Posted by Melissa
a resident of Another Pleasanton neighborhood
on Oct 17, 2013 at 4:46 pm

@hd, did you even read his bio? He's been at the City for over 15 years and worked his way through the engineering positions up to his current position. That's how people get work experience, much like Knowles who got his job experience by bouncing around different cities. The Albertson's job was held prior to his internship at the city and while he was going to college, probably helping to pay his college tuition. By the way, he is a licensed Professional Engineer. Why don't you try reading the things that you are posting links to before speaking out of turn.

Posted by Me
a resident of Pleasanton Meadows
on Sep 2, 2014 at 9:28 pm

It should go without saying or a call to an engineer - 4 long cycle lights in a 1/2 mile stretch that are not timed is just plain incompetence on West Las Positas- Santa Rita, Owens, iron horse and Stoneridge. Why should have to call? Don't I pay taxes for competent city staff?

Posted by 20 year resident
a resident of Birdland
on Sep 3, 2014 at 6:38 am

I find the sensors in the traffic lights around town work as they were set up to. It turns red every time it senses a car coming. No such thing as cruising through in this town. Lights are set up so that you stop on red lights as many times as realistically possible.